A number of tests are conducted on tires following their manufacture. Among these are indoor tire tests for tread wear including irregular wear, indoor tests for force and moment characterization to confirm the ability of the tire to endure forces expected to be encountered during braking and turning and laboratory abrasion tests for tire tread wear resistance. The tires are subjected to an abrading action longitudinally and laterally with use of an abrading surface. Rotational or other movement of the tire relative to the abrading wheel or other abrading surface results in rubber compound debris accumulating on the abrading surface. The tread rubber compound from which most tires are manufactured have certain amount of oil and/or wax. Particularly for synthetic rubber formulation for tread, such as SBR, large quantities of processing oil is commonly used. It is desirable to immediately remove from the abrading surface such debris and the oil and/or wax contamination accumulated on such abraded surface. The present invention utilizes an eraser wheel for cleaning and removing such debris and oil and wax contamination which is made of a rubber that has no oil and is capable of absorbing the oil and wax typically found in tire tread formulations.